Key Takeaways
- The Wall Street Journal reported that Boeing is looking to change the plea agreement it reached last year.
- The plane maker pleaded to guilty of violating a deferred prosecution agreement following the 2018 and 2019 plane crash that killed 346.
- A federal judge rejected the plea deal in December over a required diversity consideration for the independent monitor to oversee Boeing's probation, according to the Journal.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Boeing (BA) wants its guilty plea from the previous year to be rescinded, or the punishment it receives because of the guilty plea to be reduced now that Trump is in office.
Last July, the plane maker pleaded guilty to defrauding federal authorities in a case where Boeing was accused of violating an agreement for deferred prosecution over two plane crashes that occurred in 2018 and 2019. The crashes killed 346 people. The government claimed Boeing had violated their agreement to maintain safety conditions after a plug came loose from a flight in January of 2024.
The Wall Street Journal reported that a federal judge in Texas rejected the guilty plea in December. That judge took issue with a required diversity consideration for the hiring of the person who would be appointed as an independent monitor to oversee Boeing's probation, the newspaper reported at the time.
Now that negotiations over the deal have been extended into the Trump administration, the company is looking to get the Department of Justice's support for changes to the deal, the Journal reported Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Boeing is seeking to reduce or eliminate the requirement that it hire an outside monitor. However, it will not remove the $400 million required for improving its safety practices.
Boeing and the DOJ refused to comment on the article. Boeing shares were little altered Tuesday.
UPDATE—This article has been updated with the latest share price information and a response from the Department of Justice.
